Holy Saturday: A Day of Fear and Dread

Holy Saturday: A Day of Fear and Dread
Saturday, March 30, 2024 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Hope in Christ / Scripture discussion / The church / Thought for Today

Holy Saturday: the second day of the Triduum, a three day sequence that consists of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Pascha. Why the third day is best called Pascha will be part of tomorrow’s entry.

On this day, we remember Christ’s day in the tomb. First Peter 3:18–19 tells us what was likely going on during that time. It is a difficult passage to interpret, but contrary to what Christian Universalists insist, Jesus wasn’t sharing the good news of the Gospel to deceased human spirits to free them. Rather, He was proclaiming to non-human spirits who are now in prison, as the text says. The key words are “now in prison,” present tense. These spirits were not freed; instead they were imprisoned (that is what the Greek supports). Although a slight inference, this was a message of their doom.

But that isn’t our main point. Rather, it is what was going on with Peter, James, John, and the other eight disciples. As John 20:19 tells us, the disciples were in mortal dread of the Jews. Their seemingly untouchable leader had been killed. Would they be next? Almost certainly.

We have the benefit of hindsight. We know that Christ will rise from the dead early Sunday morning. They didn’t. The Scriptures state that Jesus had told the disciples numerous times what was going to happen: He’d go to Jerusalem, be handed over, die by crucifixion, and then rise from the dead. But the Scriptures also insist that the meaning of what Jesus said was hidden from them. Thus, their dread, their mortal fear of their own likely demise.

What would our lives be like if Christ hadn’t risen from the dead, if Saturday was the end? First Corinthians 15:13–16 provides the answer and is worth quoting in full:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. (NAU)

That is a bleak picture, isn’t it? That is what was at stake. For the disciples, on Saturday, the day after Jesus’s crucifixion, that appeared to be their reality. What they’d been proclaiming had been proven vain, they are still in their sins, their faith had been proven worthless. Talk about a discouraging time!

The good news is that Saturday wasn’t the end of the story. But for today, on Holy Saturday, let us consider where we’d be if Christ hadn’t risen from the dead. It makes the events we celebrate tomorrow all the more joyful, doesn’t it?

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